Last night's The Wire was fucking INTENSE. This is already one of my favorite seasons of the show, and it's sad to see it go. It's also been frustrating to see it struggle in the ratings, so this season only has 10 episodes. Lame.

I also started watching The Shield again after a couple of years and got the third season. It pales in comparison to The Wire, and it kind of gets hokey, but nowhere near the level of something like 24. The show's actually a lot better than I remember and completely forgotten how much I loved the characters of Danny and Dutch.

Also downloaded tons of TV last week. Scrubs, The Muppet Show, Adventures of Pete and Pete, Dexter, It's Always Sunny, Wonderfalls, Scrubs, Spaced, The Office (UK), and the first season of The Wonder Years are shows I'm saving for a rainy day.

Jamboree wrote:Last night's The Wire was fucking INTENSE. This is already one of my favorite seasons of the show, and it's sad to see it go. It's also been frustrating to see it struggle in the ratings, so this season only has 10 episodes. Lame.

Really, just ten episodes? That is disappointing. Damn ratings.

I also started watching The Shield again after a couple of years and got the third season. It pales in comparison to The Wire, and it kind of gets hokey, but nowhere near the level of something like 24. The show's actually a lot better than I remember and completely forgotten how much I loved the characters of Danny and Dutch.

Good for you. Third season with the Armenians. The third season was good but keep watching. The fourth season with Glenn Close and the fifth season with Forest Whitaker easily eclipse the third season. The Dutchman is great. In the fifth season The Dutchman gets into some really funny (I mean that in a good way) situations with Billings and this new female cop Tina.

True, the Shield is not as good as the Wire but it is great for regular Cable. Not to mention it has not dropped in quality like 24. It just keeps getting better.

I'm going to check out Battlestar Galactica soon. Edward James Olmos was on it, correct? I think I remember seeing commercials.

You know The Wire also has the same distinction of winning a Peabody award. I wish I could write a fantastic piece putting over the Wire much like you did with Battlestar. But I can't. The Wire is brought to you by David Simon, who some might remember created Homicide for ABC.

The Wire has a novelistic approach to storytelling. It has never flinched from dissecting Baltimore. It has tackled the war on drugs in this country as it simultaneously explores race, poverty and the death of the American working class, the failure of political systems to help the people they serve and the tyranny of lost hope. It has done a terrific job in highlight the the plight of inner-city African Americans.

In the first and third season The Wire focuses on the police trying to bring down a West Baltimore drug organization. It shows how real life law enforcement is flawed not only from a police procedural standpoint but also because the department is beholden to the mayor and the mayor to special interests. Even the most cleverly constructed, forward-thinking drug gangs are flawed because the greed, hopelessness, laziness and fearlessness of others always intervenes. Politics fails because so much of Baltimore is in the death grip of immediate need, of decades long failure that demands reparation.

Multi-season story arcs and deeply layered story lines only add to the enjoyment. But it is the novelistic approach that hurts the shows ratings. You cannot just start watching from any random episode. You have to watch from the beginning. For your dedication you are certainly rewarded.

CheMateo wrote:I'm going to check out Battlestar Galactica soon. Edward James Olmos was on it, correct? I think I remember seeing commercials.

Yes. And he is fantastic on it. As is Mary McDonnell (Dances With Wolves, Sneakers). They have this incredible on-screen chemistry. together. The acting writing on the show will often make you forget that you're watching a sci-fi based show.

The mini-series/pilot was really fun and intirguing especially from a nostalgic point of view (despite being a radical departure from the original series; similar to the reboot of Bond, Batman, etc...). After the pilot when you see the characters and the rest of humanity on the run, being forced to bend their own laws & morals for the sake of survival, the story very rapidly becomes that much more interesting.

I've got the first two seasons on DVD. If you want I can lend them to you at the next show. The extras alone are amazing, and were worth the price of the DVDs.

"I brought you some more videos. You got your choice; porno, or monster trucks. Oh! And I've got one that's both." ~J.B.~

I'd thought I'd give this thread a bump, since some new things have been on TV as of late.

Lately I've been watching...

John Adams on HBO. I've got to say that this is one of the best mini-series I've ever seen. It's not terribly compelling, or an edge-of-your-seat kind of show, but it does explore the relationships of so many historical & not-so historical figures in a very thorough manner.

Battlestar Galactica's 4th & final season. AMAZING! The first 10 minutes of the season premiere had me on the edge of me seat, and all the new developments have kept me guessing at every turn. In the second episode there was this superb scene between Mary McDonnell's character & Edward James Olmos' character. It had an interesting dynamic, and I had never seen their characters interact in such a way. It was almost like they had evolved into this old, bitter, couple. Very strong scene. Again, I highly reccommend that anyone interested in this show go out, and rent or buy the first 3 seasons on DVD to get caught up. It's 24 meets Lost meets The West Wing... in Space, but the latter is only an afterthought.

I've also been watching a lot of classics on AMC, TMC, etc... I just watched The Good, The Bad & The Ugly the other day. Phenomenal! Sergio Leone's films are pure genius, and Ennio Morriconne's scores for Leone's films are just as amazing.

"I brought you some more videos. You got your choice; porno, or monster trucks. Oh! And I've got one that's both." ~J.B.~

I finally watched the first season of the Office. I've seen episodes here and there, but I've always wanted to actually watch them in order. So I got season one from NetFlix, and even though it's only 6 episodes, it's still an amazing show. Other then that, I've got about 10 wrestling shows I have to get through, with 6 coming in the mail shortly.

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SenimSilla wrote:I finally watched the first season of the Office. I've seen episodes here and there, but I've always wanted to actually watch them in order. So I got season one from NetFlix, and even though it's only 6 episodes, it's still an amazing show. Other then that, I've got about 10 wrestling shows I have to get through, with 6 coming in the mail shortly.

Are you talking about the original Office from the UK with Ricky Gervais, or are you talking about the American adaptation with Steve Carrell? Both are great, but some might find the UK version to be a little dry because of the British humor. It is quite brilliant though. If you like the Office, I'd suggest that you check out Ricky Gervais' other series, "Extras." Great stuff. A lot of episodes from the first season seemed a little repetative as they followed the same format story-wise, but it's forgivable because they're so funny. Kate Winslett talking about phone sex, Harry Potter showing off his condom, and Ben Stiller's ego exploding are some of the funniest things I've ever seen.

I also forgot to mention that as far as re-runs go I've been watching Deadliest Catch all week, and Deadwood since HBO started up syndication again for this quarter.

And I just picked up a copy of Epic Pro Wrestling WAR's "Untitled" show. ArtOverLifeStudios actually dropped the prices on their DVDs. I got the show, for an even 10 bucks with no shipping & handling charges. It's a pretty good value considering it's 4 discs with both the untitled show, a bunch of webisodes, one of the older WAR shows from '05, and a bunch of extra matches. The camera work kind of bugged me, but I can let is slide since the Untitled show was being filmed by Yap's kids I think. The Bo Cooper vs. Matt Jackson match really surprised me, and the Jack Evans vs. Markus Riot match is pretty cool. I'm really enjoying the DVD and am thinking of picking up some others. I really want to see the Davey vs. Super Dragon match, and I want to see the Alex Koslov vs. Low-Ki match again.

"I brought you some more videos. You got your choice; porno, or monster trucks. Oh! And I've got one that's both." ~J.B.~

I've only seen the first four episodes of the fourth season of Entourage. Did they completely drop the Turtle/Kelly relationship?

Just finished Detective Story with Kirk Douglas. Also saw a mildly amusing movie with George C. Scott called Hardcore. It wasn't great or bad. Scott plays a conservative Christian from the Mid-West. His daughter goes on a trip to the West Coast but ends up missing. Scott hires Peter Boyle to find her. Boyle finds out that Scott's daughter has gotten into the porn business. Scott loses it and starts searching for his daughter himself. Amusing moments include a guy named Big Dick Blaque, Scott dressed up as a seedy casting agent, Scott bludgeoning a punk with a lamp and a brawl down the steep streets of San Francisco. I'm sure there were more funny bits but that's all I can remember. To me Hardcore was some what similar to 8mm, only better.

Anyone watch Damages? I loved the first season of that. I picked up the dvds of it and going to start watching it again soon to get ready for the second season. I think that was my favorite show of last year.

I also picked up The Riches and am digging that show at the moment. Also watch Rescue me, although last season seemed a little bland, as was Weeds.

I'm about twenty five minutes into Lars & the real girl. I'm enjoying it so far. Lars has just brought his "date" to dinner to meet his brother and sister in law.

I've just finished the first three episodes of the fourth season of The Wire. This time around the show is focusing more on the youth and the terrible inner city schools. One kid named Duquan is sort of the outcast, reminds me of a couple of kids I knew growing up. The ending of the third episode took me aback actually. It gave me some perspective and made me realize how insulated I actually was in my own public school during the same grade. These episodes have been quite sad and make you not want to bring a child into this terrible world. On the lighter side, there has not been enough McNulty yet. And Herc ends up catching the Mayor with his pants down. That was a funny little opener to the second episode.

I've also started watching the first ten minutes of the L.A. Confidential pilot with Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Vincennes. I dig it so far. It makes me wish those bastards at HBO picked it up or at the very least FOX. I really loved that movie and would've liked to seen a TV incarnation of it.